The sooner parents and the rest of society take responsibility for tearing down denial of the FACT that people have enjoyed getting high for millennia, no useful public policy will prevail. The power of mystique and taboo is, to a young person, infinitely more compelling than the comparably childish approach of adults with their “just say no” mentality. We learned nothing from the Reagan years, namely, that simplistic solutions (unburdened by truth) to complicated issues rarely succeed.

Also, why do the researchers assume that only underage college students ride the T? What makes an ad clearly associated with the Red Sox targeted at college students in particular? And where are they getting the idea that somehow, if underage college students weren’t seeing ads on the T, they’d drink less?